“As a result of a multi-step national security review process, which involves rigorous scrutiny by Canada’s national security and intelligence community, the Government of Canada has ordered the wind up of the Canadian business carried on by TikTok Technology Canada, Inc. The government is taking action to address the specific national security risks related to ByteDance Ltd.’s operations in Canada through the establishment of TikTok Technology Canada, Inc. The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners.
To attract users across the Global Majority, many technology companies have introduced “lite” versions of their products: Applications that are designed for lower-bandwidth contexts. TikTok is no exception, with TikTok Lite estimated to have more than 1 billion users.
Mozilla and AI Forensics research reveals that TikTok Lite doesn’t just reduce required bandwidth, however. In our opinion, it also reduces trust and safety. In comparing TikTok Lite with the classic TikTok app, we found several discrepancies between trust and safety features that could have potentially dangerous consequences in the context of elections and public health.
Our research revealed TikTok Lite lacks basic protections that are afforded to other TikTok users, including content labels for graphic, AI-generated, misinformation, and dangerous acts videos. TikTok Lite users also encounter arbitrarily shortened video descriptions that can easily eliminate crucial context.
Further, TikTok Lite users have fewer proactive controls at their disposal. Unlike traditional TikTok users, they cannot filter offensive keywords or implement screen management practices.
Our findings are concerning, and reinforce patterns of double-standard. Technology platforms have a history of neglecting users outside of the US and EU, where there is markedly less potential for constraining regulation and enforcement. As part of our research, we discuss the implications of this pattern and also offer concrete recommendations for TikTok Lite to improve.
The US government is suing TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance over “widespread” privacy violations that it illegally collects data on kids 13 and under.
Not only is TikTok’s algorithm promoting Neo-Nazi content, extremist organizations are also using the platform to recruit new members and encourage real-world action.
#content #extremism #media #moderation #nazis #social #tiktok
the European Commission will open an investigation into TikTok in the coming weeks over concerns that changes the firm made to comply with the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA) were not enough to protect under-age users, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
TikTok has not received notice from the European Commission of an investigation and is in regular dialogue with European Union authorities, a spokesperson told Reuters when asked about the Bloomberg report. The EC declined to comment.
Suite aux interdictions d’utilisation de TikTok à du personnel de l’UE, le nouvel Institut national suisse pour les tests de cybersécurité a publié les résultats de ses tests techniques sur l’application, recommandant de considérer son utilisation avec précaution.
One evening in late December last year, I received a cryptic phone call from a PR director at TikTok, the popular social media app. I’d written extensively about the company for the Financial Times, so we’d spoken before. But it was puzzling to hear from her just before the holidays, especially since I wasn’t working on anything related to the company at the time.
Controversy surrounding TikTok, the popular Chinese company-owned social media platform, has continued to give rise to impasse in recent weeks. Just days after the Biden administration issued a divestiture-or-ban ultimatum to the company and Beijing firmly opposed a forced sale, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified in Congress to try to save the app’s U.S. operations.
The government of France has banned TikTok – and all other recreational apps – from phones issued to its employees.
The nation's ministère de la transformation et de la fonction publiques last Friday issued a statement PDF announcing the policy, which minister of transformation and public service Stanislas Guerini justified on grounds that no recreational apps have sufficiently robust security for them to be deployed on government-owned devices.